The Freshpet Blog

Lille Punkin’ Takes on the Fridge Challenge

The following is part of a series of content in partnership with Freshpet! Opinions are my own.Awhile back, we told you about our dead fridge and how we were going to be taking a week with no cold food. Well, that week turned into a week and a half. I was not happy.

What did we eat? Well, we quickly ate everything in the freezer that was starting to thaw out first. My dog got quite a treat, as we had some ribs that didn’t look very appealing and he saw the benefits of us declining to warm them up. We also made a few trips to the store (something we usually only do ONE time a week.) We would buy food for that day, cook it right away, and eat it right away. There was no chance to store leftovers well, so we ended up eating more than we normally would have at a meal — which was expensive and not ideal.

But what about items that HAD to stay cold and couldn’t be consumed right away? We had some prescription medications that had to stay cool, so we stored those in small picnic coolers and kept our portable ice machine going 24/7. We continued to switch out the ice every 6 hours, day and night. It was a nightmare.

Combine that with the fact that our garden was overproducing things like green beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Much of the produce could be kept on the counter for a day or two, but not much longer. Things I usually did with my produce (like making fresh salsa) just couldn’t happen without a fridge or freezer to store it in afterwards. I felt like I was losing the battle of fresh food fast!

You can imagine that the day our new fridge arrived was an exciting one for me. I kept looking out the window all day, hoping to see the delivery truck pull up into our driveway. When it arrived, I could have kissed the driver!

Within hours, we had a cool environment for our foods, medicines, and more. I was able to go back to doing meal plans again. And our pets can also look forward to fresh pet food again (like the yummy cookies we’ve made in the past for our pups and cat.)

Linsey Knerl runs Lille Punkin’, a blog that discusses reviews, a healthy family lifestyle and her pets!

LillePunkin.com and author Linsey K. are participating in our Freshpet Fridge Challenge by living without the refrigerator for seven days. We’ll be posting Lille Punkin’s experiences over the course of the week right here, so be sure to check back in each day. Or, you can follow the Lille Punkin’s experience on their website here. For additional coverage, be sure to “Like” Lille Punkin’ on Facebook and “Follow” them on Twitter.

The following was published on LillePunkin.com:

Last week, I was approached about doing a “no fridge” challenge with Freshpet, a fresh pet food company. Being very pregnant, working on a house remodel, and homeschooling 5 kids, I thought that the timing was ridiculous, and so I thought very carefully about participating. I mean, living without your fridge? Who does that ON PURPOSE?

Then, as luck would have it, my fridge died. Yep, the compressor went out, and we lost all the food in our fridge, along with having a giant mess to clean up. I chuckled when I got the diagnosis that this appliance wouldn’t be running again (at least not without costs that would rival the cost of a new fridge.) I ordered a new fridge and was told that I could have cold food again in a week. O brother….

So, without even having a say in the matter, I embarked on a week of no food in my fridge…now as part of the Freshpet Fridge Challenge.

How did I do? What would we eat? And how would it affect the family’s healthy eating habits that we had worked so hard to establish over the summer? And what about my pets? Will they be affected, too? Stay tuned!

Click here to see more of Lille Punkin’s blog content. Additionally, be sure to follow Lille Punkin’s Linsey Knerl on Facebook here and Twitter here for her latest on the Freshpet Fridge Challenge!